Last year was my sons first Christmas so in typical new mum style I went wild and brought lots and lots of things, also as a single mum I wanted to get one up on his dad by buying better presents that him and I indulged myself in a silent competition. This year however I've been finding myself feeling rather guilty about the amount of presents I buy. My son certainly doesn't need all of the things I buy him at Christmas or throughout the year, and I'm becoming increasingly aware of the lesson all these gifts could teach him in materialistic values and as someone who doesn't consider themselves to be especially materialistic its something I would prefer my son not to be either, yet I appear to be teaching him the opposite and that more is more, just because my calendar states 25th December is rapidly approaching. This week I've been busy putting together my shoebox for a childrens shoebox appeal ran by my local church. I've brought things like colouring books, pencils, a cuddly toy, a ball, gloves and other small gifts to put into my shoebox and seeing all these small presents that will make a childs Christmas and knowing its likely to be all they get this year really does make you think about how much we have compared to others and if we all just spread out what we have a little bit more and spent a bit less time thinking of ourselves Christmas could be a nicer time for so many. In pondering these things I've set myself a Christmas challenge that I'd like to extend to the NIce Mums community. I've decided that by 25th December I want to have done ten selfless acts for others. I'll count my shoebox as one, but the rest I will not write what I have done for that could be seen as trying to make oneself look good and therefore not selfless, but I will just quietly do these tasks. Anyone who wants to join me theres no conditions or rules other than to not state what you've done, only that you've done a one of your selfless acts and when you have completed your ten.It could be things like donating money to a charity, taking a bag of old things to a charity shop, giving a blanket to a homeless person, checking on an elderly neighbour to see how their coping with the cold, taking time to give advice to one of our members in need, the list is endless and it doesn't matter what you do however big or small, just so long as its done purely with the good will of helping another. Anyone who wants to get involved keep us updated by commenting on this blog, our Facebook group or sending us a tweet. I look forward to hearing your progress! Peace & loveSteffi xx